I know there was one in the USSR in 1932 and one in the PRC in 1958. I know that they’re a major talking point of the “communism killed 100 million people” myth. I’d like to be able to understand them better and extract valid criticisms out of them so I don’t end up looking ignorant or sycophantic while trying to explain why I support communist countries.

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[–] davel@hexbear.net 39 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

Some context to keep in mind:

These famines happened soon after their revolutions.
These were the last famines in each of these regions, both of which had suffered famines for centuries.
Neighboring countries suffered famines at the same time.

[–] ta00000@hexbear.net 14 points 9 months ago

And during those famines the overall life expectancy was still higher than the pre-revolution non-famine life expectancy (from birth, mind. I don't know how you would find, say, age 8+ life expectancy which would be perhaps a more useful metric in some ways)

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